KEYWORDS: picture, one, something, posters, poster

Get the Picture?

David Berg

—Get It Out! DO 1873 10/84 (From a Tape to the Artists)

1. I HOPE THE ARTISTS PICKED OUT THEIR NEW NAMES because we need'm now! We've gotta get'm on those posters! I think it would raise more suspicion if there was no name on it at all than if you'd put a regular System name on it, so pick any System name that you like, I don't care. It's gonna be your GP name from now on for the GP Posters! You're going to have to live with it & go by it & get famous by it, World–famous by the millions, so you'd better pick a good one! Pick a name that sounds as pretty as your pictures!

2. I WANT TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF WHAT I WANT IN THESE SINGLE-PICTURE POSTERS: They must be very clear‚ outstanding, bright, good contrast‚ simple, easy to understand, positive, real pretty pictures that people will really want to hang on their wall.—Nothing negative if we can help it, & simple enough to be understandable. Some of them may be a little mystical & mysterious like some of the modern posters of the World today, we can have a few like that, but most should be pretty simple for simple-minded people, so that most people would be able to understand most of them & like them well enough to buy'm & stick'm on their wall, even frame'm!

3. WELL, I SPENT SOME TIME NOW PICKING OUT WHAT I THINK ARE THE PRETTIEST & THE BEST & THE CLEAREST & THAT FULFIL ALL THESE PARTICULAR QUALITIES—best art, prettiest pictures, clear, one picture, no collages, just one scene blown up to poster size or framed picture size, & we've got some gorgeous ones! I picked out 25 as the prettiest of all for our first runs! I stripped poor little Techi's wall to put some of these big ones you sent me already on the wall right in front of me so I could sit there & study'm at a distance to see what really stands out & what really looks pretty & what I think would really sell if it was exhibited in the shops or on the street or whatever, & in a moment I'll read you the list of what I've come up with!

4. I'M STILL A LITTLE BIT IN DOUBT ABOUT THOSE CALENDAR POSTERS. When I see the beauty of these single picture posters, I think they would be much hotter than the calendar posters! The calendar poster has really got a good message, & for that reason it's really got something, & for more personal use I think that would be very good for study use, but I don't think it would be quite as useful for GP or go over quite as well in public as will these others.—And one thing we want to try to do is reach the general public!

5. AND BELIEVE IT OR NOT, I AM A FAITHFUL BELIEVER IN THE GENIUS OF OUR TEXTUAL EXPERT‚ DEAR APOLLOS, THAT HE WILL BE ABLE TO COOK UP GOOD TEXTS FOR THE BACK OF EACH OF THESE SINGLE–PICTURE POSTERS!—And they don't have to be fine-print texts! How do you like this idea?—Nice readable texts with big letters—shorter, quickly & easily read so that the old folks can even read without their specs on, really big! We can do it photographically or whatever we have to do to get bigger print.

6. I'M THINKING ABOUT A TEXT ON THE BACK OF THESE SINGLE-PICTURE POSTERS RELATED TO THAT PICTURE ALONE, SORT OF USING THAT PICTURE AS A SPRINGBOARD INTO THE SUBJECT! He can enlarge on it a little bit to explain more about that picture & what it means & this, that & the other!—But a text which would be only about one-quarter the size or length, like just one of those columns of the present texts he's been writing, & enlarged to fill up the whole back of the poster!—In big enough print that they can almost read it standing across the room!—A real short brief text that they can stand there on the street corner & turn it over & read in a moment & get the point & buy it!—Or in the shop or wherever!

7. I'VE GOT IT, WE CAN MAKE IT AS SIMPLE AS THE PRESENT KIDZ TEXT WE'RE DEVELOPING SO THAT THE LITTLE KIDS CAN READ IT! It's gotta be that simple & that short & that big print that the five–year–olds can read it, like Techi! She's one of our best proofreaders, she does a tremendous job! We really count on her to show us, & boy, she catches the mistakes! She doesn't miss a trick! She catches'm all, even stuff that we've been over & didn't catch, even mistakes in the wording or the spelling, & especially the pictures! It shows you how much the kids study the pictures. She catches things in there that she doesn't think are right or are wrong or don't look good or something.

8. I WANT THESE BIG PICTURES TO APPEAL TO CHILDREN, EACH ONE, & I want them to have a text on the back that's simple enough‚ brief enough‚ large enough & with simple enough words that the five–year-olds can read it & understand it! I don't like to kill birds, especially not with stones, but at least we're getting several things done through this one tape!

9. THAT'S MY VISION FOR THESE SINGLE PICTURE POSTERS OF THE FUTURE! How do you like that? And guess what one I chose first?—One which I don't think we really did justice to. We may change our minds about some of this, but I'm putting the emphasis on the positive, accentuating the positive—Heaven! Those are the ones we've got a corner on, in fact we've got a whole Corner in it! This is what we've got an exclusive on & these are the visions the Lord was talking about! So I think we ought to put our primary emphasis & our first productions with emphasis on those particular scenes, because that's something nobody else has got & it's something that's going to arouse interest & curiosity & inspire & thrill & give'm hope for the Future!

10. SO WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE BIG HEAVENLY CITY FROM THE FIRST BIG POSTER FOR THE FIRST ONE! We're going to have to chop off the right end of it, though. Sorry to do that when we worked so hard on that end, but we worked a lot harder on the left end & it's got the most important things. I think it would make a beauty just by itself, a little one they could hold up & show! And don't forget, the headline should be "The" & not "Our"!

11. AND ALONG THE SAME LINE, I THOUGHT SOME OF THE PRETTIEST WERE FROM THE SAME POSTER‚ THE SIDE & FRONT VIEW OF THE MANSIONS, ESPECIALLY THAT FRONT VIEW! Now that we've got'm all dressed up, how's that? I've got that up here on my wall & it's just about poster-size & it is gorgeous! I mean, from a distance it really sticks out! I already told you about the Mill Lake scene, & another one I like is the Throne Scene of the Happy Heavenly Family with Jesus sitting there with two pretty girls! I'm not reading these necessarily in the order of preference, but I was just picking them out at random from the wall. Thank God for all those prints you sent to plaster on Techi's wall, because that really helped me look'm over & select! We had'm all over her wall & when she comes in she's gonna be shocked that we stripped about half of them off!

12. I LIKE THAT HALO PICTURE FROM THE TRIBULATION POSTER—ONLY DID YOU EVER CUT DOWN THE SIZE OF THE HALO? It looks to me it's about a number 10 hat size when she ought to be wearing about a number 6! I should've probably put the Magic River in there sooner, that is gorgeous, & from the Song Poster I like "Come Fly With Me" & "Touch of Love"! And how about the Tribulation Hikers in the Trib. Poster? That's kind of mystical & they may not understand it, it needs explanation, but there's enough beauty in it & it is gorgeous! I really like it & it really packs a wallop & arouses curiosity! They're gonna want to know what it means, & with that one picture you can explain the whole thing with the enlarged & simplified text on the back.

13. I THINK ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL PICTURE THAT REALLY STICKS OUT & IS THE POPULAR CONCEPTION OF THOSE FIGURES, IS GOD & HIS SON RUNNING THE UNIVERSE! It's a beautiful picture & it's very futuristic & sort of mystical like a lot of modern posters.—Also the one with the Pyramid descending to Earth with the mother & child watching it. I'm talking particularly about ones from the "Heaven on Earth" poster right now, those zoom-ins. Then there's the one of the Pyramid on the Earth. Now that you've fixed that up, it is shocking! It is beautiful & it really shows the tremendous size & all. It's a real shocker! Most people don't even think about how huge it is! I don't know whether the artist really got that according to scale or not, it looks a little bit big, but anyhow, it's pretty & we'll take a little artist's license. We'll just say it's close.

14. THEN I LIKE THE ZOOM-IN OF JESUS WHERE THEY'RE RAPTURED INTO THE PYRAMID, the one we picked as being the best one of the Rapture. I also liked that one of Jesus with His Bride in His arms‚ & even the one of the close-up shot of the couple with the leaf. All these are the best singles from the "Heaven on Earth" poster where you zoomed in & got close–ups of each of these.—Also the one of Jesus saying "Come!" I think Christians would like that particular picture for their homes, for a wall motto‚ as a testimonial to people that visit them etc. I think that would make a real good single picture, & on the back of it, our dear Word-genius can have a text that explains what the "Come" means—how to come!

15. NOW LET'S GO TO THE '83 CALENDAR—THERE ARE SOME MORE ON THERE THAT I THINK ARE BEAUTIFUL! Some of them are a little mystical, like astrological scenes etc., & I like that first astrological scene of Aquarius & Pisces. The whole thing makes a good picture even though it's sort of a composite. And you know me & pretty girls‚ I think that one will be popular with some people, maybe not with others. Also that scene where the Prophet's getting the Message from Heaven with that pretty girl standing beside him‚ I think that's a real pretty picture.—And believe it or not‚ even small, it stands out even from across the room. I think some people‚ especially people who are like-minded along that line, will like it! I'm just giving you a few ideas to give you something to work on & look forward to!

16. I EVENTUALLY WANT TO SEE FULL–SIZE POSTER PRINTS OF EACH ONE OF THESE! You can do this in your spare time when you're not doing something more urgent. I'm giving you something to play around with & sharpen the scythe with, get some experience on & experiment with. They may not be the very finals, but are at least something to do & so I can look at'm & see what I think about'm in that size.—And so the other folks here can look at'm & give me their opinion on whether they think they could sell'm! Savvy?

17. I THINK THAT ZOOM-IN ON THE BEAUTIFUL ASIAN GIRL KNEELING IN THE GARDEN IS GORGEOUS—of just her & enough garden around her—& Apollos can compile something about Eden or the New Earth or even the Millennium on the back of that one. And of course then there's the Millennium one, first picture on the second row of the '82 calendar. That's not one of the very best, but it's pretty & it's got a good Message & he can sure put a good text on the back! Then the 3rd picture on the 2nd row has a lot of good contrast & looks kind of mysterious, but it's really beautiful, & boy, it really sticks out from a distance! Even though somebody didn't like that cabin in the foreground, well, I don't know what it's there for either, but that's something to make'm wonder about! They can try to figure it out! But they can sure tell what that is in the background & that pretty girl's face there, you know me & pretty girls!—And the terrific contrast between the light & the black really makes it stand out! That would make a pretty single picture.

18. THESE ARE NOT FINAL DECISIONS, BELOVED, I'M OPEN FOR SUGGESTIONS OR ADDITIONS & ELIMINATIONS, BUT THIS IS JUST A QUICK RUNDOWN. We worked on this this morning & plastered my wall with them just to see what they look like at a distance, like if you were hurrying down the street or something, or you're sitting in a livingroom clear across the room from it, things that really stick out‚ stand out & are beautiful with good contrast or pretty colour or have a Message or whatever.

19. THEN ON THAT SAME '82 CALENDAR, THE GIGANTIC FLOWER! We've got Don Quixote there‚ but so what? That's something else to arouse their curiosity & he can explain it on the back somehow.—Also the Fountain of Light & the final one with the pretty girl. She needs to be cheered-up a little & just make any improvements that might be necessary there, but it's got a good message even with what writing is already on it. All that is subject to change if we need to. That's all! About 25 of them! That's enough for two years if we put out one a month!—Or if we put out four every quarter‚ we've got quite a few! I think the system we decided on of doing four at a time in one run but then taking three months to distribute them, to get'm out in one–month batches‚ is within our means. I think we can handle that in our budget, God-willing‚ so let's try!

20. TAKE A LOOK AT'M, ASSEMBLE'M ON YOUR WALL & SEE WHAT YOU THINK & IF YOU AGREE WITH ME ON ANY OF THOSE. I kind of picked them out at random, but we can pick the very best ones first in order to see how they go when we get around to'm. I'm giving you a look toward the future, & that's just to give you something to go on in your spare time & to tinker with & play with & experiment with, & just send me full-size colour-poster prints of each of these as you can turn'm out. Now don't push, because it'll be months & maybe a year before we get some of these out. With 25 of'm, four at a time, it'd still give us six quarters, a year–&-a-half before we could get them all out, & we've got some to start on already. So don't push'm too fast, get'm right & send me the results, one big single-picture photo-print poster-size at a time.

21. OUR NEXT PRINT RUN OF FOUR WILL PROBABLY BE THE '83 CALENDAR, THAT LAKE SCENE & THAT BIG HEAVENLY CITY SCENE WHICH HAS PACKED SUCH A WALLOP & SUCH A MESSAGE! I'm giving you the next "gang of four"! That makes 3 of'm right there, & what about maybe one of the Heavenly Mansion, that Front View? That's one of the most fascinating ones! Well, there's the second four, but don't work on the second four till you've got all the first four done! And as soon as you get'm done to your liking, send me a copy & some of our other folks too, so they can give you their critical view on them also. And if they don't have headlines, maybe I'll try to think up some before you go to work on'm. But if I don't give you a headline before that, just go ahead & do it. You can always put the headline on a black overlay or something.

22. GOD BLESS & KEEP YOU ALL & GIVE YOU SKILL & REAL WISDOM ABOUT THESE SELECTIONS & THINGS TO DO ABOUT IT, & give you a little speed too for these first ones & help you to get everything ready in time so we can roll them as soon as we can. If you have any suggested changes, omissions, additions, corrections, questions or anything that it takes me to make a decision on‚ be sure you let me know! And even these headlines are up for question. They're not necessarily canonised script, if you know what I mean! I don't know whether they were all inspired or not, but anyhow, it's just the first thing that came to me when looking at them, & I think we got a few good ones. Some of them may not be so good, I don't know, but we can make some improvements on them. If you think some improvements can be made on the headlines, holler!—Because we don't want the headlines to be hollow!

23. ON THE ARTIST CREDITS, I suggest the simplest thing in the World to do is just to slap'm up there in the upper righthand corner right after the title, there's plenty of room there if you put'm in real fine print: "Illustrated by...bing, bing, bing!" It's too bad if any of the artists are so sensitive & temperamental that they wouldn't want to put them all together, not knowing which was which & which one was theirs, because it would sure save a Hell of a lot of trouble of having to add in on every single one of these the names of all the artists that participated in them, & every artist that had anything to do with it, because even if it was just a correction they ought to get the credit for it.

24. SO I JUST THOUGHT THAT THE SIMPLEST SOLUTION OF ALL, IF NONE OF THEM GET TOO SENSITIVE ABOUT IT, WAS TO JUST STICK THEIR THREE NAMES UP IN THAT UPPER RIGHTHAND CORNER. I think it's sufficient, even if some of them share glory they don't deserve for some of these pictures! We've got to think about practicality & economy & space & speed & how quick we can get it done! So are you willing to share the glory, Artists? On each poster you can decide who did most of them & the most work on it & maybe put their name first‚ & the guy's name last who did the least of it.

25. SO GOD BLESS YOU! I'M COUNTIN' ON YOU‚ BECAUSE CHRISTMAS IS COMING & THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE FAMILY'S CHRISTMAS PRESENT! We always try to send them a little something extra on Christmas‚ & I think this is the best thing we could possibly send! They've never had so many Christmas gifts in their life before!—100,000!—Four different kinds of gifts! I know the surface ones may not make it but at least I hope they'll get the samples before Christmas so they can see what they look like. If I'd only thought of this a little sooner & we'd pushed a littler sooner they could have gotten them in time to sell'm before Christmas, & I think they would have really gone! "Here's a gift for your loved one! Here's a Christmas Gift! Buy a Christmas Gift!" It would have been wonderful!—But I guess that'll be for next Christmas! If they even get the samples before this Christmas we'll be thankful!

26. AND LET'S COUNT ON THE ENDTIME PROPHECY POSTER FOR ONE OF OUR COMING POSTERS! If I don't cook up enough for the next four, you can always stick in that one in case of an emergency, because I think it's terrific! I think it might even go on the streets with a few little corrections. We could even run this same thing we've got on the back of the black-&-white, but it might be better to have an explanatory text, one of Apollos' masterpieces. Well, this is sort of explanatory. It's got Timeline Charts of the 70 weeks, Summary of Ancient Man, the dates etc. contradicting Evolution, & then it's got the Summary of Revelation which would explain the poster on the other side. And it's got the Summary of Daniel which would explain the others.

27. SO IF WE NEED SOMETHING THAT'S READY TO GO REAL QUICK‚ THERE IT IS! It's got the whole works right there, all the basic teachings. It wouldn't necessarily be all that great for the general GP, but I think it would even go if it had to go on the street, in colour! It would arouse curiosity with that black–&-white back just as is. I'll have to study it to see if we've had any changes of mind since then & check it out, but I think it's standard & I think it still holds true.—After all, it's the Word! Sometimes our interpretation may be a little off or change‚ but you can't change the Word!

28. SO THERE'S A NEW IDEA FOR YOU! If in an emergency we don't finish this last one before we're ready to roll, Mordy can just grab one of those‚ take it to the separation guy, have him shoot it down & shoot it up & shoot it off! But it would be great if you get this last one to him, 'cause then he can walk into his separationist with that new full poster-size colour–print & wow him with it! I don't care how he does it, even if it's not perfect, that's the way we're going to do it! He can just tell him if he doesn't know how, he'll invent it for him! I'm a little extreme & I exaggerate a little bit maybe, but I have to push you a little too far to get you halfway!—Not Mordy though, he's always ahead of me! Well, really the rest of you are right along with me too, but you know what I mean! Maybe I'm a hardsell salesman, maybe I oversell, but some people you've got to oversell.—Not you guys, of course, I just try to send you these little pep talks!

29. BUT WE WANT'M FOR CHRISTMAS, SO PLEASE TRY HARD! This is an emergency, so try to get those samples in the airmail first mailing at least before Christmas. So GBY! Every day counts from now on till Christmas! GBY! I love you & thanks a lot! You're really doing the job. You may not be famous yet, but you're going to be famous Over There! We had some bright ideas about how to do it, but this is the way the Lord worked it out. He always knows best! Don't you think these posters are going to go over better than some little booklet?—Some little thoughts, blah blah, like we were talking about to put out by the millions to reach the whole World? I think these are going to do it! This may be our last stand & our last major push to really get the Message out, & if there's any way to get it out that'll get it out, I think this is it, these beautiful pictures in colour with the Message on the back!—Amen? Get the Picture?—Get it out! GBY! ILY!—In Jesus' name, amen!

30. I THINK THE BIG POSTER-SIZED PICTURES WILL REALLY WOW THE GP! I think they'll really sell, like these artists who sell their paintings on the street, you know? We used to buy those sketches in London if for no other reason than to help the poor artist! We'd come home from downtown with a bunch of those pictures. I felt so sorry for the poor guys, sometimes they were standing out in the drizzling rain trying to sell'm. They'd have'm wrapped up in a piece of oil cloth & they'd pull'm out for you to see, poor fellows! I didn't have the heart to pass'm by. Usually it was only 50 pence a picture. Of course in the dark & the rain you couldn't tell if it was an actual sketch or a print & probably a lot of them were prints. Well anyhow, it did the trick, I bought it. So!

31. THEY WERE USUALLY ABOUT THE SIZE OF OUR PRESENT NEW POSTERS. And they sold them anywhere from 50 pence to a pound, & in those days 50 pence was $1.25 & a pound was $2.50! So that was pretty good!